The Week’s 10 Biggest Funding Rounds: Big Money Flows To Water Tech Startup Gradiant

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This is a weekly feature that runs down the week’s top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week’s biggest funding rounds here.

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After several weeks of just having one or two rounds of nine figures, this week saw an explosion. Eight rounds hit $100 million or more as big rounds seemed to pour in. No one sector cleaned up, as the money was spread around from cleantech to biotech to fintech to even restaurant-centric software.

1. Gradiant, $225M, cleantech: Gradiant became one of the newest unicorns this week after raising a fresh $225 million in a Series D led by BoltRock Holdings and Centaurus Capital. The water tech startup is now valued at $1 billion. The startup develops technology to reduce water usage and build wastewater treatment systems for companies in the pharmaceutical, semiconductor, food and beverage, and other water-demanding industries. The funding is the largest in the wastewater treatment space, at least since the beginning of 2022. Founded in 2013 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The company has now raised more than $392 million, according to Crunchbase.

2. Tipalti, $150M, fintech: Automated payment solution Tipalti raised big this week with a $150 million “incremental growth financing” round, as the company called it. Back in 2021, the Foster City, California-based fintech raised a $270 million Series F funding led by G Squared at a valuation of $8.3 billion. No valuation was given this time around — although that is not unusual in this time of slowing venture funding and declining valuation. The latest round was from JPMorgan Chase Bank and Hercules Capital, which specializes in venture debt, although no distinction between debt and equity was announced by Tipalti. Founded in 2010, Tipalti has now raised about $700 million, according to the company’s release.

3. Restaurant365, $135M, accounting: It’s hard to run a restaurant — as anyone who has watched several reality shows based on doing so knows. Restaurant365 tries to make that a little easier and this week the Irvine, California-based startup added some big-named backers. The company nailed down a $135 million round co-led by KKR and L Catterton. The new round values the company at $1 billion, per its release. Restaurant365 offers enterprise management software for restaurants, helping them take care of accounting, payroll, supply chain and more. The company has surpassed $100 million in revenue and is used in more than 40,000 restaurant locations. Founded in 2011, the company has raised more than $260 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Avenue One, $100M, property management: New York-based Avenue One also joined the unicorn herd this week with a $100 million raise led by WestCap. The cash infusion gave the company a valuation of $1 billion. The startup, founded in 2020, provides a handful of services to single-family rental investors — such as finding their next property or financing. Institutional investors started buying up single-family homes during the pandemic as interest rates remained low and families sought more space. Even as interest rates have climbed back up, there clearly is still enough interest in the market to mint a property management startup as a unicorn.

4. (tied) Boundless Bio, $100M, biotech: It seems every week a biotech startup or two raise a huge round. This week is no different. First off is Boundless Bio, a clinical stage, next-generation precision oncology startup, which raised a $100 million Series C co-led by Leaps by Bayer and RA Capital Management. The San Diego-based startup is developing therapeutics directed against extrachromosomal DNA for patients with oncogene amplified cancers. In the past, targeted therapies have been mostly ineffective in treating patients with oncogene amplified cancers, according to the company. Founded in 2018, the company has raised more than $250 million, per Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Eagle Eye Networks, $100M, security: When a security company raises a nine-figure round, it is normal to assume it is referring to cybersecurity. However, not in this case. Eagle Eye Networks is an actual physical security company — although with a tech twist. The company offers cloud-based video surveillance. Perhaps not the sexiest of industries, but still a significant market. The Austin, Texas-based startup locked up $100 million in a round led by Japan-based Secom. Founded in 2012, the firm has now raised $195 million, according to Crunchbase.

4. (tied) Ray Therapeutics, $100M, biotech: Another biotech was able to raise a nine-figure round this week. San Francisco-based Ray Therapeutics locked up a $100 million Series A led by Novo Holdings A/S. The startup is looking to restore vision for people with the rare blinding disease retinitis pigmentosa. While some companies are looking to stop the disorder before it results in blindness, Ray differentiates itself by looking into therapeutics to actually bring back vision. Founded in 2021, the company has now raised $110 million, per Crunchbase.

4.(tied) Zip, $100M, procurement: Procurement software certainly is not the sexiest of industries, but there is no denying the need for systems that help companies with the burdensome process of buying new software and hardware. San Francisco-based Zip helps companies do just that and this week it raised a $100 million Series C from investors Y Combinator, CRV and Tiger Global. The startup also bucked the trend of declining valuations. The new cash gives the procurement startup a $1.5 billion post-money valuation. While many companies are seeing stagnant or falling valuations, the new valuation represents a slight bump from its previous $1.2 billion valuation last May after the company raised a $43 million Series B. Zip helps companies with sourcing, approving and paying for needed business tools, ideally helping to streamline the process to make it less taxing. Founded in 2020, Zip has raised $181 million to date, per the company.

9. Nido Biosciences, $87M, biotech: Watertown, Massachusetts-based Nido Biosciences, a biotech startup developing medicines for debilitating neurological diseases, announced it has raised a total of $109 million in seed, and Series A and B financings. Previous SEC filings (here and here) indicate the Series B — led by Bioluminescence Ventures — likely was around $87 million.

10. Quince, $77M, e-commerce: San Francisco-based luxury retailer Quince raised a $77 million Series B led by Wellington Management. Founded in 2018, the company has raised $141.5 million, according to Crunchbase, positioning it for accelerated growth and expansion.

Big global deals

Even though the U.S. saw some big funding rounds, none came close to the biggest this week.

China fast-fashion startup Shein reportedly raised $2 billion at a $66 billion valuation, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Methodology

We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the seven-day period of May 13 to May 19. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week.